I had to do something similar when I accepted a gig at a client. The document they submitted for me to sign was so far reaching that I refused to sign it. It granted permission to interview my neighbors, background check, credit check, anything check... The kicker was that the document stated that after my gig with that client ended, even after my employment at my consulting company ended, they were still allowed to do these checks any time they wanted. It just didnt' seem right.
So, I told them I wouldn't sign it. It basicaly came down to "Sign it, or else" and I really couldn't afford to lose my job over it, so I signed a slightly modified version of it. The thing is, this is the document that all other consultants had already signed. Did nobody have a problem with the document before me?
Hey.. get this.. I found a copy of the doc... See it here if you're interested in seeing what sort of privacy all sorts of people are willing to give up for a job.
non-gamer explanation
on
Sim-Dud?
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Wrote this in an email to a non-gaming friend this morning (so excuse the lack of proper grammer) and thought I'd share it here as well since I think someone who's reading here who doesn't have a background in gaming might find some nugget of info in it...
-------------- kind of a bad article i think. it makes the bad estimates of EA look like the industry doesn't have a market...
"...many in the video game industry wonder whether online games will ever find a large following."
a large following isn't the question, it's finding the right game to tap into it. there's over 400k people playing EQ alone. there's probably 10 others that have 250k each. all of those people play at least $10/month to play. the market is there, EA is just having a hard time compelling people to play online. here's the thing... EA has "the Sims" that is competing with "the Sims: Online" at the same time. people aren't signing up to play online when the non-MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) version is just about as fun. EA keeps releasing new content for the single player version, so there's really no need, if you're a fan, to play the online version. they kinda messed up i think.
most other MMO games, you can *only* get the experience online. not so with the sims. not only that, but the whole genre of what the Sims is trying to do online is brand new. it's not a "questing" game. it's just like a large graphical chatroom where you can do other stuff.
the market for online version is odd too. other games (like EQ and such) try and grab the hardcore gamers. basically, young males that are into gaming. the sims market is much more broad, lots of ladies, housewives, casual gamers. these aren't the typical people who are going to start spending $$ and hours online.
the last thing is probably that the game in itself is kind of flawed. not flawed really, but maybe it doesn't suit itself to longterm play. they've sold a lot of copies of the game and the expansions because it's *really* fun to play for a short amount of time, then it gets old. people pick up the expansions because they're really fun. this makes the sales numbers look good and tricks EA into thinking that everyone out there is playing the game nonstop anyway. the truth is that people have put the game away on the shelf for the last three months and haven't given it a second thought. it's not that it wasn't fun, but the longevity isn't there. but, people get excited for some new content and go pick up the expansion to get a quick fun hit of the game again. then, after they've seen all the new widgets and whatnots, they shelve it again.
what EA is going to end up doing is having to add content all the time to the online version. give people a new fix every month of new graphics, new items, new functionality. that's one of the advantages of being online anyway, and most games are moving to that model (Asheron's Call was the first to do it) once they start doing that, people will stick around, or at least come back every couple of months to renew their account to see what's changed.
I wonder if Nintendo will continue to chase after the young gamer market. The biggest slam I hear from people about the 'cube is that it's all kids stuff. Having an 8 year old, I don't mind seeing all the titles out that are kid friendly... but with the new embrace of the older male market with games like GTA and the like, I'm wondering if Nintendo will forsake its past and try and get a chunk of the 18-30 market.
Slashdot Mirror
Slap a cell phone into this thing and I'm ready to sign up!
I had to do something similar when I accepted a gig at a client. The document they submitted for me to sign was so far reaching that I refused to sign it. It granted permission to interview my neighbors, background check, credit check, anything check... The kicker was that the document stated that after my gig with that client ended, even after my employment at my consulting company ended, they were still allowed to do these checks any time they wanted. It just didnt' seem right.
So, I told them I wouldn't sign it. It basicaly came down to "Sign it, or else" and I really couldn't afford to lose my job over it, so I signed a slightly modified version of it. The thing is, this is the document that all other consultants had already signed. Did nobody have a problem with the document before me?
Hey.. get this.. I found a copy of the doc... See it here if you're interested in seeing what sort of privacy all sorts of people are willing to give up for a job.
Wrote this in an email to a non-gaming friend this morning (so excuse the lack of proper grammer) and thought I'd share it here as well since I think someone who's reading here who doesn't have a background in gaming might find some nugget of info in it...
--------------
kind of a bad article i think. it makes the bad estimates of EA look like
the industry doesn't have a market...
"...many in the video game industry wonder whether online games will ever
find a large following."
a large following isn't the question, it's finding the right game to tap
into it. there's over 400k people playing EQ alone. there's probably 10
others that have 250k each. all of those people play at least $10/month
to play. the market is there, EA is just having a hard time compelling
people to play online. here's the thing... EA has "the Sims" that is
competing with "the Sims: Online" at the same time. people aren't signing
up to play online when the non-MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) version is
just about as fun. EA keeps releasing new content for the single player
version, so there's really no need, if you're a fan, to play the online
version. they kinda messed up i think.
most other MMO games, you can *only* get the experience online. not so
with the sims. not only that, but the whole genre of what the Sims is
trying to do online is brand new. it's not a "questing" game. it's just
like a large graphical chatroom where you can do other stuff.
the market for online version is odd too. other games (like EQ and such)
try and grab the hardcore gamers. basically, young males that are into
gaming. the sims market is much more broad, lots of ladies, housewives,
casual gamers. these aren't the typical people who are going to start
spending $$ and hours online.
the last thing is probably that the game in itself is kind of flawed. not
flawed really, but maybe it doesn't suit itself to longterm play. they've
sold a lot of copies of the game and the expansions because it's *really*
fun to play for a short amount of time, then it gets old. people pick up
the expansions because they're really fun. this makes the sales numbers
look good and tricks EA into thinking that everyone out there is playing
the game nonstop anyway. the truth is that people have put the game away
on the shelf for the last three months and haven't given it a second
thought. it's not that it wasn't fun, but the longevity isn't there.
but, people get excited for some new content and go pick up the expansion
to get a quick fun hit of the game again. then, after they've seen all
the new widgets and whatnots, they shelve it again.
what EA is going to end up doing is having to add content all the time to
the online version. give people a new fix every month of new graphics,
new items, new functionality. that's one of the advantages of being
online anyway, and most games are moving to that model (Asheron's Call was
the first to do it) once they start doing that, people will stick around,
or at least come back every couple of months to renew their account to see
what's changed.
I wonder if Nintendo will continue to chase after the young gamer market. The biggest slam I hear from people about the 'cube is that it's all kids stuff. Having an 8 year old, I don't mind seeing all the titles out that are kid friendly... but with the new embrace of the older male market with games like GTA and the like, I'm wondering if Nintendo will forsake its past and try and get a chunk of the 18-30 market.